Sphaerocobaltite (ex Van Tichelen Collection)

Item Description

From the collection of Wouter Van Tichelen, this piece hosts rich and very attractive coating of lustrous magenta spheres of this rare species of cobalt mineral! NOT nearly as common as cobaltian calcite, true spherocobaltites are often mistaken for the more common calcite. This is COBALT CARBONATE, though, and the best of them, like this one, were found in the heyday of copper mining in Congo/Zaire in the 1960s and 1970s. This one is VERY LARGE and well-covered, by the way. Also, not often will you find the spheres distinct enough to see with the naked eye, yet this specimen is almost completely coved with 1 mm balls of Spherocobaltite on the top.